Bradley, "Bill" (William W.)
Basketball
b. July 28, 1943, Crystal City, MO
One of the most publicized college athletes of his era, Bradley starred at Princeton University for three seasons, scoring 2,503 points for an average of 30.1 per game. A 6-foot-5, 205-pound forward, he was named to some All-American teams in 1963 and was a consensus All-American in 1964 and 1965, when he was unanimously named the college player of the year.
Bradley, who captained the 1964 gold medal Olympic team, won the 1965 Sullivan Award as the outstanding amateur athlete of the year. He was the first basketball player to receive the award.
Before he had even graduated, Bradley was the subject of a book, John McPhee's A Sense of Where You Are, originally a series of articles in the New Yorker. The title referred to Bradley's court sense. Small for his position and lacking speed, Bradley used intelligence, quickness, and hours of practice on his own to become an outstanding passer and shooter.
He carried Princeton to three Ivy League titles. Bradley's value to the team was underlined in the 1964 Holiday Festival Tournament, when he scored 41 points against the University of Michigan to give Princeton a 75-63 lead before fouling out with about 41/2 minutes to play. With Bradley on the bench, Michigan outscored Princeton 17-3 to win 80-78.
After scoring 58 points in his final game, an NCAA tournament loss to Wichita State, Bradley was drafted by the NBA's New York Knicks, but he accepted a Rhodes Scholarship to attend Oxford University in England, then served in the Air Force Reserve.
Bradley joined the Knicks in 1967 and was a key member of NBA championship teams in 1970 and 1973, fitting perfectly into a squad that emphasized team defense and unselfishness on offense. He retired after the 1976-77 season. From 1979 through 1997, Bradley was a Democratic U. S. senator from New Jersey.